PONDERED: The music elitism counterbalance
Posted by Mat | Filed under Music
There seems to be a sort of odd counterbalance when it comes to music elitism; the more obscure your day-to-day tastes are, the more you really, really need to enjoy some sort of antithetical, mainstream, evil-Kirk, music.
I’ts a common problem around opinionated friends – I’ve really started liking “Post-Noise,” it’s like the sound the occurs after you hit something and the primary noise ends – it’s all very Zen. Shit, is that Phil Collins, that’s my JAM.
It’s the Pitchfork problem – Top Tracks: Low-Fi Yak Calls and fuckin Jay-Z bitches
It’s an all too common problem, without a clear cut answer.
Do the ultra-obsessive music geeks have such a broad palette that sometimes they can’t help but enjoy media that was made for easy consumption?
Is it a subconscious subversion of the mainstream by the intelligencia?
Or perhaps, is there just some sort of reptile brain reaction to Ace of Base that you must heed the call?
Tags: elitism, mainstream, pondered, yak calls
Is it too late for a best of 2009 list?
Posted by Mat | Filed under Music
Blame a lack of time or inability to make decisions on blog layout, but it’s February and the obligatory end of year recap has yet to be posted.
As a music blog, that makes you an utter failure. So, in order to make up for the grievous oversight, below are three different lists, recapping 2009.
Top 5 Most Notable Artists/Albums
5. Pictureplane – Dark Rift
| House beats and the cutup style of early, culture jamming, style industrial. This is what new electronic music should sound like – Dark, plodding, and deliberate. |
4. Fever Ray – self titled
| The Knife redux (even the steel drum sound comes back), Fever Ray took the feel of the Live Deep Cuts album and applied to the new songs and textures. |
3. Best Coast – Best Coast / When I’m With You
| Probably the most accessible of the lowfi, garage sound, Beast Coast are like running through sprinklers with all your mustachioed friends. |
2. The XX – self titled
| Music school youngsters, they’re either the dubstep Slowdive or the anti-Raveonettes. I’ll punch you if you call them “The double exes.” |
1. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion / Fall be Kind
| There are no words left on the internet to discuss these albums. |
Top 5 Most Listenable Artists/Albums
5. White Lies To – Lose My Life…
| Interpol suits, teenage lyrics about love and death, drama; goth as fuck with a new coat of paint. Apparently, they’re huge in UK. |
4. Boxer Rebellion – Union
| Apparently the internet didn’t get the importance of a kick ass, a self released album that held the top the iTunes charts, beating out some Grammy winnings bands. |
3. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart – self titled
| People are constantly trying to figure out who The Pains of Being Pure AT Heart sound like – actually, they’re just the synthesis of all things fun about music. |
2. The Raveonettes – In and Out of Control
| Leading the way for the 60’s style, Spector-esque bands, the In and Out of Control is easily the best album of the year to play while rocking out or being convicted of a felony. |
1. Asobi Seksu – Hush
| Spoiler: it doesn’t sound like Citrus. Drop the expectations and enjoy a more textured and fluid album with noisy break downs, sweet lulls, and infinite playability. |
Top 5 Near-Win Artists/Albums
5 That almost made it onto one of the lists above
5. We Were Promised Jetpacks – These Four Walls
| You have big ass guitars and yelling; dudes should love you. You have Scottish brogues; chicks should love you. What happened? |
4. The Horrors – Primary Colours | A Place to Bury Strangers – Exploding Head
| What’s up post-punk + psychedelic bands of 09 – you brought a good game, but you lacked the oomph to make your albums memorable. |
3. Washed Out – Life of Leisure EP | Millionyoung – Sunndreamm EP
| These are the best of the “Chillwave” crop. Please, for 2010 bring some consistency to your albums – I really do want to enjoy every song. |
2. The Big Pink – A Brief History of Love
| Big ballin’, bombastic Britts. Velvet and Dominoes brought the bravado, but the second half of the album falls apart into moments, instead of songs. |
1. Editors – In This Light and on This Evening
| Oh Editors, what happened to you being the post-punk revival band that no one paid any mind, but were more consistent than Interpol? Oh yes, these words happened: You ran with the dead today, with the moles from the C.I.A. Ouch guys, ouch. |
Tags: 2009, Best of, listenable, near-win, notable
